The Path We Choose
by Catelyn Tsukino
Summary: What happened after Custody Battle and why the Rowdyrruf Boys never appeared again? The story behind it may surprise you. (No explicit romantic pairings.)


**So, I'm surely not the only one who wonders what happened to the Rowdyruff Boys after _Custody Battle_. Here's what I think it might have happened. It takes place right after they go after the girls.**

**Brick might be more clever than he is in the series, but it was necessary!**

* * *

Brick leaded the way to the Powerpuff Girls' school. They planned on attacking them by surprise (and maybe beating up some of her classmates). Brick felt that they would finally win the girls and destroy them. And then...

What were they going to do then?

Brick shook his head, pushing those thoughts away. It wasn't the first time he thought about this, and he had already decided it was subject for later. Maybe because he never figured out how their lives would be without the girls to defeat. _Life would be easier and funnier_, he always forced himself to think. But that answer wasn't really convincing.

He pushed those thoughts away again and focused on the house standing in front of him. The Powerpuff Girls' home. Where they were born... and where they would die. He tried to laugh at the idea of the girls dead, but ended up choking. "Hey, Brick, shh" Butch said. "You're making too much noise!"

"It's not my fault if my saliva wasn't on the right place" he lied.

Butch rolled his eyes and asked for silence again. They approached the window and saw the bedroom empty. Of course, it was Father's Day. They were probably out with their dad. Perfect. They would hide in the closet until their arrival and then kill them. Poor Professor Utonium.

Brick realized he actually felt sorry for the man. He cursed himself mentally for his weakness.

Surprisingly, Butch and Boomer didn't complain about his plan. They even played a little with some dolls while they waited two hours for the girls to come home. Brick spent that whole time thinking about the big question. What on earth were they going to do after the girls' death?

First option: go to school. No, the girls' classmates wouldn't leave them in peace. And his brothers wouldn't want to go study anyway.

Second option: mess around. No... That was boring already.

Third option: drive their fathers crazy. But then he wondered what would Mojo Jojo and HIM do without the Powerpuff Girls. And what about the other monsters? He once heard their biggest honor was to confront the Girls and come back to their isle alive.

He tried to shut that part of his mind up. He was going to kill the Girls (Blossom especially). He and his brothers were born to do this. It was their duty.

Right?

-x-

Finally the girls arrived. Brick heard the bedroom door open and Blossom's voice saying they were very tired of the day. Professor Utonium told them to get some sleep so they could enjoy the rest of the day. Perfect. Tired victims. Element of surprise. The victory would be easier than he thought.

They jumped out of the closet, shouting something Brick himself didn't understand. Blossom and Buttercup screamed, while Bubbles's eyes widened.

No words were said. Brick went straight to Blossom and they started to fight. While hitting the pink-eyed girl hard, he heard Buttercup angry screams and Bubbles' weak cry.

Blossom made little defense against him. She seemed tired. Not only of the day, but of fighting. She suddenly stopped flying and fell on the floor. Ignoring the small part of him that suspected of an act, he flew to her. Her eyes were closed, but she was still breathing. He heard one of her sisters screaming her name. He checked her pulse. She whispered "Why?" and coughed. "Why what?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Why kill us", she answered weakly. "We did... nothing to you... Not even the monsters want to kill us..."

She was too hurt and weak to keep talking. Brick realized what he had done. She was probably dying. He was a killer. A monster. He was worse than a monster, actually. Monsters destroyed buildings and nature things, but never killed anyone on purpose.

"STOOOOOOOP!" He screamed, almost crying. Butch and Boomer stopped beating the girls immediately. Bubbles was bleeding and Buttercup was unconscious. "Look-Look at what we are doing! We are killers! We are worse than monsters!"

"Yeah... And what's the matter, dude?" Boomer asked. "C'mon, they are already defeated. Just a few more punches and they are gone for good!"

"If that's what you want to do, fine!" he shouted. "_I_ am going to take Blossom to the hospital. _I won't_ let her die. I _won't_ be a killer. This is _not_ the life_ I_ want." Then he got Blossom in his arms and flew out of the house, heading to the closest hospital.

The girl could barely move or speak, but she saw everything and seemed to understand. She smiled to him when they left the house. "You are... You're a good... person... Br-Brick. I... forgive you."

He didn't answer. He was focused on taking her to the hospital before those words became her last ones.

-x-

Blossom was in coma. Brick begged for the nurse to not call anyone. He didn't want anyone else to see the damage he had done.

He wondered what happened after he left with the girl. Butch and Boomer probably thought he had lost his mind and went back to their deadly task. How was he going to tell Blossom their sisters died? How was she going to react? Would she ask him to kill her after all?

Would she even wake up?

_Come on, Brick. She's a Powerpuff Girl. She can handle this. She'll get better sooner than you think._ Or so he hoped.

He also hoped Bubbles and Buttercup weren't dead. He tried to remember nice things about both girls.

Bubbles. The shy girl. She would cry rather than scream or curse. She was a good actress. She fooled him pretending to be Boomer. Or maybe he was just too stupid to notice the difference.

Buttercup. The though girl. She didn't like girly stuff. She could have been a good friend if they weren't too focused on defeating them. Actually, he could see her and Butch together. He chuckled at the image of his brother dating.

And finally, Blossom. The smart girl. The one who gave him the deadly kiss. The one he hated the most. The one he almost killed. The one he was trying to save. He knew nothing about her, except her cleverness. And that she was in coma. Because of him.

At least she was alive. The others possibly weren't anymore.

His thoughts and grief were interrupted by a very loud noise... that could only belong to his brothers.

-x-

Bubbles wasn't crying anymore. She was too busy coughing. Boomer kept beating her, ordering her to stop, until blood fell on the floor.

She was coughing up blood

"What the fuck?" He nearly shouted. He looked around and saw blood on the floor. Too much blood. Did it all belong to Bubbles?

How was she still alive?

But she was weak. Very weak. Almost dead, he would guess.

_I won't be a killer. This is not the life I want._

Brick's voice came to his mind all of a sudden. Did he want to be a killer? Or was he just following his fathers' commands? He didn't know, but letting Bubbles die wouldn't help him to find an answer.

Without saying anything to Butch, he grabbed Bubbles in his arms and flew to the hospital.

-x-

Butch's hands were on Buttercup's neck. She had passed out a couple minutes ago, after her head hit the wall.

He saw Boomer leaving with Bubbles in the corner of his eye. He flew after him, leaving the green Powerpuff on the floor. "Hey, Boomer!" He screamed. Boomer slowed down and turned to his brother. "What the hell, man? Are you freaking out just like Brick?"

"No, Butch. I'm being smart for once! I don't want to be known as The One Who Killed Bubbles! I don't want us to be worse than HIM! Let our fathers do the dirty work if they want to! I will live my own life, not the one the made up for me!"

And with that he flew even faster, leaving Butch far behind.

He flew back to Buttercup. She could be already dead. Their dads would be pleased. Wait. He was _pleasing_ their dads?

Wasn't he supposed to be rebellious? To disobey them? He liked to drive them crazy. He hated their approval. He didn't know why. He just did.

He didn't check Buttercup's pulse. He didn't know how. But he took her to hospital.

-x-

Brick didn't ask why Boomer and Butch eventually decided to try to save the girls. He didn't really care.

Buttercup was in coma too. The nurse said it was a miracle she didn't die.

Bubbles passed out in the middle of the way, due to blood loss. Boomer volunteered himself to donate his blood to her. She was the first to wake up.

It was Brick who explained the whole situation to Bubbles.

"How much do you remember?"

"Boomer beating me... I saw blood... And that's all. The blood was mine, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Boomer hit you a little hard."

"But what about my sisters? Where are they?"

"They are... in ICU. They are in coma... I punched Blossom until she passed out and Buttercup's head hit the wall."

She started sobbing. After fifteen minutes, she calmed down a little. "Did the doctors say if they would wake up?"

"They believe Blossom will wake up first, since the damage in her head was smaller than in Buttercup's. But they don't think any of them will stay in come for more than a week. They say they are healing fast. They are Powerpuff Girls after all."

She nodded and did the most unexpected thing: she hugged Brick. "Thank you for saving my sisters", she whispered.

"But-But we tried to kill you..."

"But you changed your minds. You're not like your dads."

He smiled weakly. Butch would have loved to hear that. He hated being compared to their fathers.

They broke their hug. "Bubbles... Boomer, Butch and I talked... And we decided to leave Townsville. We'll just wait for Buttercup and Blossom wake up and we'll leave."

Her eyes widened. "Why?"

"We want to be as far as possible from our fathers. We don't want to be annoyed at how we should have killed you and how we should go finish our jobs. We are going to England and... probably do what you girls do here, you know. Defend whatever city we go to from villains."

"Really? That's amazing, Brick!" She tried not to scream.

"Yeah... Messing around was starting to get boring."

She hugged him again, leaving him quite uncomfortable.

_**Twelve years later...**_

"The smell is the same", Butch commented.

"Thank God", Boomer answered. "I missed it."

Twelve years after saying goodbye to the Powerpuff Girls, they were back to Townsville. The city in which they lived no longer needed them, so they decided to go back home.

Blossom and Buttercup woke up from their coma in the next day after Brick told Bubbles they would leave. The two girls weren't as warm and happy as the blonde, but the goodbyes went by fine.

"Do you think they live in the same house?" Boomer asked his brother Brick.

"Hopefully yes." He answered and started flying. The others followed him.

Those twelve years changed the boys for the better. They became smarter as they went to school. Less aggressive and more diplomatic as they started to live with other people. More mature as the years went by along with the monsters.

They arrived at the girls' house. It hadn't changed at all. "I just hope they are still there" Brick said.

Instead of invading the house through the windows, like they did last time, they knocked on the door. Professor Utonium opened it for them.

"Oh", he said in a surprised tone. "It's you. Wait a minute. Come in." And he disappeared. As if they were some of his daughter's classmates that he heard a lot about but never really met. They entered the house carefully, afraid that they could kicked out at any minute.

A couple minute later, the trio appeared flying downstairs. Although they had grown up just as much the boys, they looked almost the same. Blossom still looked like a leader (a little nerd with those glasses), Buttercup still looked a bit tomboy-ish (with some grace in her flying) and Bubbles still looked naïve and innocent (but she didn't seem scared anymore).

They put their feet on the floor and finally looked at their visitants. Bubbles was the first to smile. She ran to the closest boy - Boomer - and hugged him. "We thought we would never see you again!" And then proceeded to hug the other two.

Blossom was the second to walk to them, with Buttercup walking hesitantly behind her. Their hugs weren't as tight as Bubbles'. The blonde was still the warmest of the trio.

After all the hugs, there was silence, which was broken by Blossom. "So guys, how are you?"

Brick glanced at his brother and smiled, answering for them. "We're... home. That's all."

* * *

**Glee fans will understand what Brick's final line really meant :)**

**I hope this story was at least worth your time! Sorry for any grammar mistakes or poor language, English is not my mother tongue.**

**And also sorry for the great lack of Buttercup in this. I just couldn't find any good part to give her an actual role. This was planned to focus on the Boys' perspective, mainly Brick's.**

**XOXO, Catelyn.**


End file.
